Table of Contents

This study is provided by ICPSR.
ICPSR provides leadership and training in data access, curation, and methods of analysis
for a diverse and expanding social science research community.

National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women, 1967-2003 (ICPSR 4681)

Principal Investigator(s):Ohio State University. Center for Human Resource Research (CHRR)

Summary:

The National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women is one of
six surveys, designed by the United States Department of Labor,
comprising the National Longitudinal Survey (NLS) Series. The original
purpose of the survey was to study employment patterns of women in
their 30s and 40s who may have been re-entering the workforce and
balancing the roles of homemaker, mother, and labor force participant.
The survey was first administered to 5,083 respondents by interviewers
from the United States Census B... (more info)

The National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women is one of
six surveys, designed by the United States Department of Labor,
comprising the National Longitudinal Survey (NLS) Series. The original
purpose of the survey was to study employment patterns of women in
their 30s and 40s who may have been re-entering the workforce and
balancing the roles of homemaker, mother, and labor force participant.
The survey was first administered to 5,083 respondents by interviewers
from the United States Census Bureau in 1967. The survey has been
repeated a further 20 times, approximately every other year, between
the years of 1968 and 2003. Unlike the two NLS male cohorts which were
abandoned by the early 1990s, the NLS of Mature Women is an ongoing
study. The survey queried respondents on 17 main subjects: work and
nonwork experiences, work-related discrimination, training
investments, schooling information, retirement status and plans,
volunteer work and leisure-time activities, physical well-being,
health care and health insurance, alcohol and cigarette use,
attitudes, aspirations, and psychological well-being, geographic and
environmental data, demographics and family background, marital and
fertility histories, childcare arrangements, care of ill and disabled
persons, household chores, and transfers. Respondents were asked to
give detailed information about their occupation, class of worker,
rate of pay, hours worked per week, job satisfaction, and benefits.
Respondents who reported themselves as unemployed were asked questions
regarding their job search including methods employed to look for
work, number of weeks spent looking for work, reasons for not looking
for work, and number of weeks spent out of the labor force.
Respondents were also asked about work-related discrimination,
specifically whether they had experienced discrimination based on age,
race, religion, or sex at any time. The survey also collected
information on the training experiences of the respondents such as
whether the respondent had been enrolled in a vocational or commercial
training program during high school, what type of training, how much
time was spent in training, and whether the skills acquired had been
used on a current job. Respondents were also asked a series of
questions about their schooling including whether the respondent
attended high school, whether the respondent obtained a diploma or
GED, whether the respondent attended college, what field of study,
what type of degree, and the amount of time dedicated to college
education. Respondents were asked about their retirement status and
plans such as at what age they expected to stop working, eligibility
for Social Security benefits, and the availability of an
employer-sponsored pension plan. Respondents also gave information
regarding the amount of time spent doing unpaid volunteer work and
answered a single question about how they spent their time when they
were doing housework or working for pay. Respondents were asked about
their income and assets including sources of income, whether they or
their spouses owned their own homes, other real estate, or
automobiles, the total worth of those assets, savings accounts, United
States savings bonds, other bonds, and stocks. Respondents were asked
about their physical well-being, specifically questions pertained to
perceived changes in the respondents' health over time, any
health-related problems, whether these problems were the result of
work-related accidents, and whether they were exposed to a dangerous
working environment. The survey also addressed alcohol and cigarette
consumption during the past 12 months. Several geographic variables
were included in the data, specifically place of residence including
Census division, South or non-South differentiation, and residence in
a metropolitan statistical area. Other geographic variables include
data on the respondents' previous places of residence as well as
characteristics about the size of the labor force and unemployment
rates for their current residence. There are several demographic
variables including the respondents' race, nationality, date of birth,
birthplace, and parents' educational and life status. Respondents
were asked about their marital status, children, dependents, and
differentiating from the male cohort surveys, fertility history. There
was also focus on current marital status, dates, duration of, and
reasons for the end of previous marriages, total number of children,
number of adopted children, number of children living at home, ages of
children, dates of birth, gender of children, timing of the
respondent's marriage with respect to work, school, and the birth of
her first child. Respondents were asked about child care arrangements
including costs, number of hours during which child care was required,
type of child care arrangements, attitudes regarding daycare centers,
and the effect of child care availability on her job search
behavior. Respondents were asked a series of questions relating to the
care of ill or disabled persons. Details were collected about whether
the person cared for belonged to the household, her relationship to
that person, and total amount of time (hours) spent caring for the
person. Respondents were asked about their responsibility for specific
household chores including grocery shopping, childcare, cooking,
cleaning, and yard work, whether or not tasks were completed with
help, and total amount of time spent on these chores. Finally,
respondents were asked about transfers received from parents and given
to children. Transfers mentioned included gifts, loans, financial
support, inheritances, personal care, and household chores or
errands.

The data belonging to the National Longitudinal
Survey of Mature Women was previously archived as part of the NATIONAL
LONGITUDINAL SURVEYS OF LABOR MARKET EXPERIENCES, 1966-1992 (ICPSR
7610). In efforts to make the National Longitudinal Survey (NLS)
Series data more usable, the six cohorts comprising the NLS have been
reorganized so that data and documentation for each study can now be
found under the following ICPSR study titles: NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL
SURVEY OF YOUTH, 1979 (ICPSR 4683), NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL SURVEY OF
YOUTH, 1997 (ICPSR 3959), NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL SURVEY OF OLDER MEN,
1966-1990 (ICPSR 4675), NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL SURVEY OF YOUNG MEN,
1967-1981 (ICPSR 4678), NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL SURVEY OF YOUNG WOMEN,
1967 (ICPSR 4680).

The original NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL SURVEYS OF
LABOR MARKET EXPERIENCES (ICPSR 7610) data and documentation files
remain available in their original form.

Please consult the
codebook for important errata for the NLS Mature Women cohort.

Additional information pertaining to the NLS Mature Women cohort can
be found at the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
http://www.bls.gov/nls/nlsorig.htm.

Study Description

Citation

Ohio State University. Center for Human Resource Research (CHRR). National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women, 1967-2003. ICPSR04681-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2007-07-06. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR04681.v1

Universe:
Mature women aged 30 to 44 as of March 31, 1967
representing the civilian, noninstitutionalized population and
residing in the United States.

Data Types:
survey data

Data Collection Notes:

The data belonging to the National Longitudinal
Survey of Mature Women was previously archived as part of the NATIONAL
LONGITUDINAL SURVEYS OF LABOR MARKET EXPERIENCES, 1966-1992 (ICPSR
7610). In efforts to make the National Longitudinal Survey (NLS)
Series data more usable, the six cohorts comprising the NLS have been
reorganized so that data and documentation for each study can now be
found under the following ICPSR study titles: NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL
SURVEY OF YOUTH, 1979 (ICPSR 4683), NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL SURVEY OF
YOUTH, 1997 (ICPSR 3959), NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL SURVEY OF OLDER MEN,
1966-1990 (ICPSR 4675), NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL SURVEY OF YOUNG MEN,
1967-1981 (ICPSR 4678), NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL SURVEY OF YOUNG WOMEN,
1967 (ICPSR 4680).

The original NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL SURVEYS OF
LABOR MARKET EXPERIENCES (ICPSR 7610) data and documentation files
remain available in their original form.

Please consult the
codebook for important errata for the NLS Mature Women cohort.

Additional information pertaining to the NLS Mature Women cohort can
be found at the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
http://www.bls.gov/nls/nlsorig.htm.

Methodology

Sample:
A total of 5,393 mature women were selected from the
universe of potential respondents during household screenings and
deemed eligible respondents.